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Comments
I've taken Brett's advice above and temporarily placed the trim on the base, in the wall.
I think I'm happy enough with that to move on, so I'll now proceed to attach the trim to the base and then move on to the windows.
A little tip for you to dull down the stark white of the trim and blend it down a little if you want to...
Try on a scrap piece of white first, such as the backer sheet.
Use a soft brush and very lightly dust some DRY 408.3 or 408.5 onto the white trim to dull it down and age it a little.
Very nice progress so far.
I had thought the white did look a little stark, even with the peeling effect. So I decided to give your tip a try.
Here is a "before" (on the right) and "after" (on the left) following Karl's tip advice.
I think I like that even more. Here are all four doors, with trim attached and blended down.
And finally, following Brett's earlier advice, here is one of the doors placed temporarily in situ.
Okay, now I'm ready to tackle the windows.
Grant
I learnt it from Brett when working on BlueSky for the lettering.
Your results look great.
I think the peeling paint on the door frames is well done. Hard to believe its your first attempt. I think they look great the way they are. But if I had to change anything, I might tone down the white with a little more weathering. It's been great watching the walls come together and I've really enjoyed following this build.
The main windows were next and again I've done my best to follow Brett's instructions. We start by applying the same techniques to the all of the window components as used on the doors, including Karl's tip above.
Next is to "locate the sheet of laser cut mylar". A brief moment of panic as I rummaged through the box without finding it. Then I remembered actually seeing it before and sure enough, there it was hiding among the other "miscellaneous" items in Bag #5. Heart attack over, we are instructed to spray a light coat of Testors Dull Coat over the window pieces. I didn't have Testors Dull Coat to hand, but I did have some permanent matt spray finish for artists. As it claims to be suitable for all papers and boards, artwork, transfer lettering etc, I figured it must be pretty much the same stuff. And indeed it seems to have done the job just nicely. After allowing it to dry for a few minutes, it was again given a light dusting of 408.3 chalk powder to give the windows a "dull and muddy look, but not so much that it looks painted". To quote again from the manual, "you are looking to represent years of dirt and grime build-up". So here is the sheet after that treatment. (Three of the lower sashes had already been removed before I remembered to take a photo).
The lower sashes then have their mylar "glass" installed by peeling off the backing on the sash and carefully applying the mylar. Here is a close-up of one sash after receiving it's glass.
The remainder of the mylar "glass" was then installed and the sashes and "pop-out" windows installed. Following the instructions, I've placed the lower sashes in a varying degree of open positions. At this stage I haven't added any cracks or holes in the windows - as Brett notes, this is a working structure, so I'm inclined not to add these unless the consensus is that I should.
Now I have a question for the assembled brains trust.
The next step in the instructions is to add nail holes to the Dormers. I have read elsewhere here on the forum, that adding nail holes to an HO scale model might not be the best idea as they would largely be invisible at this scale. Brett says to add them using the point of a compass or large sewing needle and I've read elsewhere where Karl (I think?) shows a way of doing this with a sharpened (very sharp) pencil lead, which gives both the indentation and colouration at the same time. So now I'm torn - do I add the nail holes or not? And if I do, do I go with just the compass/needle point, or the sharpened pencil method?
I'd be most grateful for any and all opinions on this, recognising that I'll likely get as many opinions as there are people to offer them.
So the subject of nail holes... There's been a lot of discussion over the years on this subject. (A LOT!) Like many things in modeling and life it's a personal choice. I know many talented modelers who swear by them, and many who do not. Who's right? Everyone is right, pretty rare occurrence for sure! I don't use them often but it's nice to have some variety so they are included in the instructions on some kits like the Shipyard.
I would recommend, like most techniques, testing the various tools suggested out on some scrap wood and see if you like the resulting holes. The one place things can get derailed is if the row of nail holes wander a bit and are not perfectly straight. Wavy rows of nail holes looks awful. That is something I think everyone will agree with!
Talking of nails, as Brett says, as with everything, practice on similar scrap boards you have left over. Also as he stated it can go really wrong, really quick.
As you are working in HO I'd personally back away from adding them, even in O scale I add them minimally. Usually just at points where boards butt together.
I actually just messed up my current build and am not happy with them, so I'll need to adjust them as they stand out too much for my liking.
The viewers eye is naturally drawn to these areas of the wall anyway so if the nails are done right it adds an extra level of detail, the viewer then subconciously thinks the rest of the wall is detailed that way, because they dont really look.
For me, nothing ruins a beautifully modelled structure quicker than rows and rows of blatantly obvious nail heads/holes.
As Brett says its definitely a matter of personal choice, and each to their own.
My personal choice is not in HO except for specific areas, if at all.
Thanks everyone for your input on this - as expected, there are a variety of thoughts and no single "right" answer. Brett's advice was to test the results on some scrap first and see what I think. I couldn't really tell from just one plank, so I built a little "test wall" from some of the leftover strip wood.
In the picture below, I've made some nail holes with just a needle point tool - these are on the right, and towards the centre of the picture - and they are barely visible. Then, on the left I've added a couple of rows made with the sharpened mechanical pencil technique describe by Karl elsewhere (I found this technique on JohnM's shipyard build log, dated 2014 - http://www.craftsmankituniversity.com/vanforum/index.php?p=/discussion/335/request-critique-on-my-shipyard-build/p2)
My personal inclination is to go with the pencil nail holes, but I'm not wed to that idea. What do you all think - needle point nail holes, pencil point nail holes, or no nail holes?
Grant
I do floors with a lighter look just how I like them you can see what I am saying on my thread Machine Shop AKA Ewell Milling.
This is what I use for the nail holes.
They renew them quite often. ......Tooth Acres...........
I think if you do the whole wall with the pencil ones they will over power the wall and will be too obvious and distracting.
If you are just doing board ends and but-joints I would still use the needle, if you think it needs a little more visibility just give the needle a slight wiggle to enlarge them very slightly.
Here is my "nail gun" alongside a mechanical pencil for scale - it is a home made scribing tool, turned from brass and with a large sewing needle epoxied into the end. The weight of the brass gives quite a heft and makes it very easy to use for this purpose.
And here are the results on some of the walls.
The nail holes are there if you look for them, but they aren't immediately obvious. I believe that is as it should be and is what Karl and Brett were trying to get across to me - the art of subtlety.
Moving on now with a little more confidence, albeit still very slowly.
The windows for the Left Dormer Wall were prepared in the same fashion as the main windows, including the final stage of dusting with dry chalk powder to tone down the white paint.
We are then instructed to make some window blinds by painting some plain paper with Floquil Depot Buff and then dirtying it up with some chalk powder. My substitute paint choice was AK 11033 (Dark Sand) and again I used some 408.3 chalk powder for the "dirtying", applied in the same way as the final stage of the window frames (ie a dry dusting).
The strip was then cut to length for individual window shades of varying length and glued in place on the inside at the tops of the windows.
The outer frame, headers and ledgers were then added to complete the windows on this wall.
The door for this dormer will be next - quite a challenge ahead with those tiny hinges and door knob.
Grant